Day
100 Kill
Bill: Volume 1 [2003]
Screenplay Quentin Tarantino
Director Quentin Tarantino
Cinematography Robert Richardson
Music The
RZA
Leads Uma
Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, David
Carradine, Sonny Chiba, Julie Dreyfus, Gordon Liu
Production A Band Apart
IMDb 8.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes 85%
Keep
it one hundred people! Who would have thought we’d get this far? And the
wonderful thing is that we ain’t even one-third of the way there. What better
way to celebrate than with a cult Tarantino classic with more blood than a
haemophiliac fight club. Props to Wu Tang Clan’s RZA for giving us one of my
favourite movie soundtracks. The very first song – Nancy Sinatra’s cover of
‘Bang, Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)’ – sets the tone for the rest of the movie,
which also includes the chilling whistling of ‘Twisted Nerve’ by Bernard
Herrmann. Robert Richardson, a long-time collaborator of Tarantino’s (as well
as Stone and Scorsese) dazzles once again with plenty of vivid close-ups of a
bloody Thurman. The long sequence when the Bride (Thurman) goes to find O-Ren
(Lucy Liu) and the camera weaves along corridors and above them keeps the
tension high and the adrenaline running. I love reading bad reviews of this
film. Said critics seem to be looking for a hidden comment or message that
doesn’t exist. And when they don’t find it, they get mad and say Tarantino is a
masturbatory narcissist – so obsessed with himself that he has split this into
two volumes. Why the hell are you complaining? If this man wants to make a film
and then ends up making a four-hour action spectacle split into two movies you
should be thanking your lucky stars, not cursing the ground he walks on.
Because even when he makes bad films they are still unmissable (From Dusk till
Dawn (Day 40) case and point). The acting isn’t incredible, apart from
Thurman who is superb, but the reason it has a high score is because of the
excellent stunt coordination. I always forget about the anime part of the film
where it explains O-Ren’s past. I haven’t read into the thoughts behind this,
but had it been real characters it would have been on another level of
harrowing gore. It’s instead an effective way to tell O-Ren’s story and fits in
with the ‘grindhouse’ cinema that Quentin is aiming for. I like how he
intermittently uses black and white. It takes the emphasis off the blood that
covers every inch of this film and brings you back to the story and characters.
Will have to cover Volume 2 later on in the blog, but can I get a pat on the
back for the hundred bomb. Happy Easter/Passover weekend y’all.
Acting 3.5 / 4
Writing 3 / 4
Cinematography 4 / 4
Music 4 / 4
HWF rating 3.5 / 4
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